U.S., China Strike Trade Deal

The United States and China announced that they had reached agreements on some of the issues that have caused some economic friction between the two countries. According the Commerce Department, the agreement contained ten points:

A resumption of U.S. beef exports to the Chinese market beginning in July.

A resumption of China cooked poultry exports to the U.S. market.

A guarantee by China to review the applications of eight U.S. biotechnology products and approve or deny them solely on the basis of safety.

A guarantee by the U.S. to treat China no differently than any other nation in authorizing LNG exports.

Access to the Chinese market for U.S. based credit rating agencies.

Increased cooperation between the Shanghai Clearing House and the U.S. CFTC.

Access to the Chinese market for U.S. based payment processors.

A guarantee by the U.S. to treat Chinese banks operating in the U.S. no different than banks from any other country.

Access to U.S. financial institutions in the Chinese bond underwriting market.

U.S. support of China’s “One belt, one road” initiative to connect China more deeply to global markets.

Despite the agreement, further issues between the countries remain to be solved, such as resolving the question of dumping by Chinese steel firms. It remains to be seen what, if any, impact the agreement will have on the politically sensitive trade deficit that the U.S. has with China of around $350 billion a year.